Animal rights group pushes for halt to Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races after three horse deaths

CALGARY — An animal welfare group wants the chuckwagon races at the Stampede halted after a crash that killed three horses and injured another.

“We think that all the changes that the Calgary Stampede has been publicizing over the past few months that were supposed to make this race safe obviously haven’t worked,” Peter Fricker, a spokesman for the Vancouver Humane Society, said Friday.

“We think that there’s something more fundamentally wrong with the race and we’re calling for a suspension of the chuckwagon races and a full and fundamental safety review to be conducted.”

Thursday night, the lead horse for a team driven by Chad Harden suddenly went down, taking two others horses with it and sending Harden and an outrider flying through the air.

Stampede spokesman Doug Fraser said Thursday night that the horse that collapsed “experienced a fatal event.”

Neither man was hurt but two of the horses had to be euthanized on the track due to their injuries. A fourth horse will require surgery but is expected to survive.

Fricker said the problem could have been with the nature of the race itself.

“There’s just not very much room. They’re making very tight turns and they’re going at high speed,” he said.

Another issue is the physical condition of the horses. He said research has suggested some horses may have legs too weak for their bodies as a result of selective breeding.

“We don’t know yet, but those are the kinds of things that we think the Stampede should be looking at, not making what appear to be superficial changes.”

The Stampede introduced some new rules last year aimed at making chuckwagon races safer for both horses and competitors. The move came after six horses died in 2010.

All horses are now inspected by veterinarians when the animals arrive at the Stampede and before and after every race. There is also a mandatory rest day after every four days of racing.

The number of outriders that accompany each chuckwagon as it thunders around a dirt track was reduced to two from four to try to avoid congestion. Several riders have been seriously injured over the years.